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\ ■•Tf ;• : THE 0FTIC1AL NEWSPAPER OF BARNWELL COUNTY." CmseiMat* I«M L 191ft. VOLUME LVL People-Sentinel of F«mfly M r BARNWELL. SOUTH CAROLINA. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29. 1932 NUMBER 18. Cole Blease to Offer for Governor in 1934 His Candidacy Appears Certain in Light of a Statement Made by Him Recently. The former United States Senator and former Governor'Cole. L. Blease ■will be a candidate for governor in the Democratic primary in 1934 ap pears certain in the light of a state ment made by him recently, reports John K. Aull, veteran newspaper writer, of Columbia. Asked what his political intentions are, he refer red to a statement he made two months ago, in which he said that “if the old guard calls, I shall answer.” He pointed to numerou 8 letters urg ing him to make the race, nor, in re ply to a direct question, did he deny that he had so decided. But, while Mr. Blease did n °t say this, those who want to figure ou? gubernatorial politics tyro years hence might a s well geWeady to do their figuring upon the basis of a race that will include Mr. Blease, for years the stormy pet rel of State politics, says Mr. Aull, who makes the following interesting comment on affairs in South Carolina at thi s time: Olin Johnston, of Spartanburg, will be in the race. He was runner- up two years ago and went into a second race with Governor Blackwood, who defeated him by the narrow mar gin of 998 votes in a total of 234,482. Johnston was a former supporter of Blease, a strong Blease' lieutenant What the personal and political rela tions may be between them at this time, neither of them has discussed, so far ag is known. x Two years ago Blease was running for the senate and Johnston for governor. Each had his own political row to hoe, and each hoed it pretty well, but not quite well enough to grab the prizes which they sought. If their paths crossed then they did not make it public. Nor did Blease refer to Johnston last ■week. He reiterated a former state ment to this effect: “If my people think I can really be of service to the downtrodden, tax-ridden folks who are today unable to render the require- mentg of a high tax, spendthrift law- making body at the behest of a few favored office-holders, then I am a candidate (for governor cf South Carolina in 1934.” “It seems to me,” he w r as told, “about the only construction that can be placed upon what you have told me in connection with the letters you show’ me is that you will be a candi date for governor in 1934.” “The construction ycu place on it is for you,” the former senator and former governor said. And that is that. Lieutenant Governor James 0. Sheppard, of Edgefield, has announc ed that he will be in the race. Mr. Sheppard has addressed a good many audiences in South Carolina—apd elsewhere too, for that matter'—since he has been lieutenant governor; and he twice canvassed the State in his campaign for that office, having made ( ne race prior to that of two years ago when he - was elected. Mr. Shep pard W *H be here in January presid ing over the State senate again, and will be close to the political pulse. He is ai good presiding officer; he is easi’ and graceful in manner, and as a campaigner he is forceful, effective and experienced. c i > Others have been spoken of in con- 'necticn with the race, some wdth a degree of definiteness and others sim ply mentioned. Others probably will be in the race, maybe several others, maybe a s many as ten. or a dozen, or maybe not so many.^ftiut this is as sured: that if any twocf the three now definitely announced—that “definitely announced” of , course does not apply to Mr. Blease, except by a construc tion of thi s correspondent, but he is included as one of the three referred to—if any two of these three, Messrs. Blease, Johnston and Shep pard are in the race, even should there be no other entries, it will be a real race. The Farmers’ and Taxpayers’ Lea gue held a solemn, serious State con vention here this week, a meeting without fireworks, without recrimina tions, without ballyhoo or bombast, without the wild talk which has be come so prevalent in South Carolina in recent d«y s of “tax-eaters” ’ and “golden spenders” and so on, which got nobody anywhere nor accompished anything. The State budget com- mission had announced, through Gov ernor Blackwood aartier in the week. Very Large Crowd at Christmas Tree Seen and Heard Here During the Past Week len, w omen'and-’Chtldren Gather on ^4 .Little^Seny and Nonsense About Q ver Fifty Pitmen Entombed Beyond Court House Square to Greet Santa Claus. People You Know and Others ^ You Don’t Know. A crowd of several hundred men, women and children gathered on the square in the front of the Barnwell Court House Saturday afternoon, the occasion being the annual community Christmas tree. G. W. Moody, local electrician, had installed a radio amplifier on the por tico and the audience was entertained with Christmas carol s and other musi cal selections preceding the arrival of Santa Claus, who made his appearance at five o’clock. A large quantity of oranges and apples had been donated by the busi ness and professional men of Barn well, and the fruit was distributed to those present by Santa Claus and several willing helpers. There was also a Christmas tree at the local, Episcopal Church immediate ly following the community event. Christmas Quiet Here. Christmas in Barnwell this year wa s one of the quietest witnessed in many years. This, of course, was due to the depression, although most mer chants report that trade was better than they ha's expected. Several bun dled dollar s were put into circulation here Saturday by the Barrtwell Coun ty Relief Council and local merchants felt the effect of this. Christmas Day itself was “just another Sunday” ex cept for, the exchange of presents. Many attended services at the local Methodist and Episcopal Churches Sunday morning, and a Christmas pro gram by the members of the Epworth League was enjoyed at the Methodist Church Christma s night. that its appropriation recommenda tions to the ’next general assembly would come within a total of $6,485,- 000, which is not only approximately three million dollars less than the total of the 1932 appropriation meas ure, but is within the estimated reve nue of $6,500,000 to meet the appro^ priations. The Farmers’ and Tax payers’ League went on record as favoring an appropriation bill not to exceed five million dollars. The de tails of the recommendations of the budget commission have not been made public, and nobody except the governor, the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the house ways and means commit tee who constitute the commission and secretary, knows where the budget commission recommends its big slashes. Nor has the Farmers’ and Taxpay ers’ League worked out a detailed bill, so far as has been made public. It gtates various salary slashes which it recommends, ranging from 50 per cent for salaries up to the top down to 20 percent for the lower salaries, and reiterates its consolidation ideas, with proposals for other economies. The details of course are to be worked cut by committee upon the general plan outlined. It will take more than drastic cuts to get the appropriation bill down to five million dollars. Opinion of those who have long watched legislatures and economy programs i s that if the appropriation bill is held within the $6,485,000 to be recommended by the budget com mission, the three million dollars thus lopped off the past year’s total will be retiinchmant of- very large pro portions. A *bi!l held down to five million dcllar s would be little short of a miracle, and more especially if another very important recommen dation of the league, and one of the most important, should bear fruition in legislation, to remove from school district trustees the power to place tax levies on property,, restoring this ipower to the general assembly. While there was very little discus sion of a sales tax, there were echoes of sufficient volume to indicate that it is being pondered by the people. There was evidence, too, that the road bond issue was going to come in for* another terrific bombardment at the coming session of the general assem bly, the leagae going on record as de manding that further bond issues for road construction be limited to eleven trillion dollars. And there was the prophecy from Dr. S. J. Derrick, for mer president of Newberry College, and now president emeritus, though still a comparatively young man, that the proposed budget'officer under 4he proposed budget control system which waj made a part of the league pro- All Hope Abandoned for Trapped Miners Merest Chance of Survival in Illinois Quarry, * Chief of Police George Peeples serv ing 1932 town tax executions on prop erty owners three days before Christ mas. . . And did said property owners make some remarks about the city fathers, or did they? .... Several little girls singing Christmas carols in front of Barnwell residences and being rewarded with candy and cake. . . From “Seen He^e and There” in Friday’s issue of The State: “Ben Rice, John I. and Nat Rice— brothers, the last two being twins— whose birthday was yesterday and there being a dinner for them at the Rice home, where their lovely moth er, Mrs. E. W. Rice, presides.” . » Ben, John and Nat are “Barnw’ell boys” and have many friends here. . . . A welcome scarcity of fire works on the streets. . . Brightly lighted Christmas trees in front of many local residences A visitor from Williston telling about a lady shopper from hi s town paying 40 cents for a toy in an Augusta “dime store” w’hen she could have bought the identical article at home for a quarter. . . John B. Harley, manager of the Cedars Filling Station at the corner of Main and Marlboro, calling up the editor to tell him that said scribe certainly didn’t overlook anybodyrin last week’g “Merry Christ mas” editorial. . . , And several other subscribers who were kind enough to tell the writer that they missed “Seen and Heard” the past two weeks. . . A lady who has been reading “Tycoon” in the Saturday Evening Post remarking that she has been calling her husband by that name and that he doesn’t know what it means. . . . Lonnie Calhoun threatening to pay his subscription to The People-Sentinel. . . . C.- G. Fuller flying to Columbia in hi s plane to have his pilot’s license renewed. H. L. O’Bannon, Esq., presenting himself and family with a beautiful Studebaker sedan for Christmas. . Albert S. Fant, State bank examiner, en route to Columbia after a hunting trip at Hilton Head. . . A negro wearing spats and a blue denim jump er. . . Wilson Sanders, a fresh man at The Citadel wearing his cape a la senior. . . Bills for electric current being received two days be fore Christmas and bringing to mind the fact that a town in the Piedmont section (Gaffney, * 1 we think it is) will send out all bills for December mark ed “Paid.” . . Tw’o more stores in the Lancaster block of buildings rap idly nearing completion. i J. Buist Grubbs reading a telegram from hi s son, Elmer W. Grubbs, a kay-det at West Point, that the young man had passed all of his examina tions by a satisfactory margin. . A—crowd of interested spectators watching . W’alter Moody trying to locate a leak in a waterpipe under the Burr Street paving with a radio am plifier. . . Th> Spirit of Christ mas and Christmas spirits. . . A small number of 1933 automobile license plates. • «i gram, would enthrone a . Mussolini. But Doctor Derrick’g high clear note of warning went unheeded. The shap ing up of the league’s legislative pro gram, with such suggestion? of a tax revamping and agricultural rehabili tation as it may contain, will be awaited with general State-wide in terest. The general assembly will, first of all, be confronted by a critical school s'tuirUon. In Willfemburg County, teachers have been assured they will be paid one month’s salary before Christmas, with no hope, it i s stated, for any other salaries by the end the school term, except the possibility of notes. From Anderson come 8 the report that funds fcr teachers salar ies are exhausted, and the teachers are faced with three payles s months. The Anderson situation presents a bright and cheerful outlook when set alongside the picture in some other counties where teacher s have drawn little, if any, pay, and no definite l hope is held out. In some of the schools, it is learned, teachers will soon be forced to give up their work and go back home where there will | not, at least, be board to pay. It is not the State that is responsible for the school situation. The State since the beginning of the 6-0-1 law has been bcriowing its school aid funds Procedure Outlined I One Killed, Another by Relief Council| Is Injured in Wreck Describe Manner in Which Work Will I Nicholas V. Martin, of BlackviUe, May * Be Carried Out in County in J Lose His Eye.—Negro Killed the Future Instantly. Moweaqua, 111., Dec. 26.—All hope was abandoned tonight for the 54 miners entombed in Moweaqua’s com munity rqine by a blast that sealed the diggings the day before Christ mas. Twenty-seven bodies were found today; twelve were carried to the sur face yesterday; 15 remain in the north v/ing cf the tunnel, entombed beyond the most fragile chance of survival. It was made known today that the north wing, where the explosion focused its fury, had been sealed Sun day to protect rescue squads from seeping pas. In that tomb are the 15 unaccounted for. The dull ache of waiting for word from the gas-filled tomb was sharpen ed by reality today as the message came from below that 27 more miners had been found dead. Moweaqua, not daring to hope, sent down its relays of rescue crews to worm their way thru perilious walls of rocks, under twisted tipibers that m'ght fall at any moment and add them to the list of dead. A breath of fresh air fanned hope • • # ^ into flame this morning. Fresh air, pumped in by the rescu- er s as they burrowed along the south wing of the T-shaped tunnel, met a barricade and blew back upon the faces of the crew. A barricade a head—perhaps it meant there were living men beyond it, saved from deadly gases by a blockade that formed a refuge. Hope spurred them on. Thfere was no time for clearing a way through the shambles. They could only wiggle an<j squirm on through the dark bore, risking life to save what life was left ahead. Hope Vanishes. The hope vanished in the lethal air of the tomb. The rescue workers came upon a body, then another and another—27, at last were counted, all dead; net of the flames that snuffed out the lives of the 12 found at the intersection of the T Sunday, but dead of the after-damp that poured through the tunnels as the men ran from their mine car to escape the fumes. Only then was it made known that the north wing of the tunnel, where the explosion focused its fury, had been sealed. In that death chamber lay 15 entombed miners. The death total of 54 was the larg est in any mine explosion within this State. It was not the greatest catas- trope, however, fcr fire in the Cherry (111.) mine November 13, 1909, cost 267 lives. The Christmas eve disaster numb ed this community of 1,400. - a year in advance, and" It borrowed the past year and seht out eighty- five percent. That school note to be come due early next year is what has caused the piesent immediate string ency in the general fund in the State treasurer’s office. It is the counties that have not been able to meet obli gations for teachers’ salaries. If the schools are to continue some action will have to be takeh somewhere. In seme of the countie s arrangements will be made. Chairman M.. F. Bush, of the house educational committee will early in the session present some school measures providing remedies getting away from the district unit plan, where the trouble lies. What im mediate steps can be taken to meet the crisis in some of the counties dur ing the present school term is largely in the hands of county authorities. In several of the counties the coun ty supply bills have already been drafted by the legislative delegations. Marlboro, home of the chairman of the house way s and means committee, Representative Neville Bennett, who will have as his colleague in the house next session Joseph J. Evans,! of prior house and senate experience, will have its supply bill ready for introduction at the opening cf 'the session. It is stated that the bill will show a reduc tion of twenty-two percent under the past year and fifty-seven percent un der 1930. One of the most drastic county sup ply bills in the State ha 8 been pre pared by Representative Daniel M. Zimmerman, sole representative in the house from Saluda County. The bill is outlined in .Representative Zhn- P .rsuant to orders of the Barnwell j Blapkville, Dec. 27.—Nicholas V. County Relief Council, the following! Martin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charlie procedure will be followed in carrying Martin, who was injured in a head-on out relief work throughout the coun- collision between his light coach and a ty in the future: _ wagon containing several negroes on 1. Each community will select a the Denmark-Blackville highway on committee, the chairman of said com- Christma g night, is resting quietly hi mittee to be appointed by the County the University hospital in Augusta, Relief Council, each community chair- where he was carried Monday morn- man to be responsible to the County ing. His face was severely cut and Relief Council for all work and expen- his right eye injured go seriously that ditures in his respenctive community, it will probably be necessary to re- 2. Before relief work is under- move it as soon as some of the swell- taken in any community, the local ing goes down. There were no inter- committee shall outline the work to naj injurie 8 revealed by several X-ray be done; make a careful estimate of pictures, the cost, number of workers neces- The accident occurred two miles sary each week, and approximate time from Denmark during a rain with a necessary to complete work, and sub- fcg, following a warm day. mit project to County Relief Council One negro, George Hughes, in the for approval. _ —wagon was instantly killed and two 3. Some one in each community I others injured. Both mules were will be designated by the County | killed. A car passing a little later Council to receive applications for re lief work and submit list of applica tions to local Red Cross and Direct Relief Committees, in order that ap- struck one of the dead mules in the road. Martin was on his way to Denmark to meet a friend. The negroes were pllicantg can be checked against returning from Denmark, their records before being assigned The car is a complete wreck, the to work. tongue of the wagon having pierced 4. In assigning laborers, teams, the radiator and lodged In the seat be- overseers and foremen for relief work, side the driver. Many friends here the following rules will be enforced.: are marveling at Martin’s miraculous (a.) Preference will be given to | escape from death, those who have the largest number of dependents. (b.) No team owned by a member of any committee shall be used, ex cept in extreme emergency, and in Vehicles Jam Together. Bamberg, Dec. 27.—George Hughes, negro, living on the plantation of Sol omon Blatt, was instantly killed as the such emergency preference is to be result of a com8ion between a wagon considered as to number of depend-} an( j an au tomobile Christmas night. ents of party operating team. (c.) No member of a committee shall be employed, a 8 oversfeer, fore man, or time-keeper. (d.) Experience will be considered | f ore wag removed from the in assigning overseers, foremen and time-keepers, as well as number of dependentg of each. It is requested that each community form a committee at once and submit the names to the County Relief Coun Nichola s Martin was rushed immed iately to hi s home in BlackviUe for medical attention. Q'oroner Phillips was notified and viewed the body be ne of the wreck. Martin was coming toward Den mark on highway No. 78 sad two miles west of Denmark encountemd, the two-horse wagon on which were several negroes returning home frees cil in order that a chairman may be church Mi-vice*. One of the named, and work commenced as early of the wagon gaid he aaw tha ^ ^ as possible. proaching on the wrong side of the Final approval of all applications for | rcad and vigoroU8 i y - waved ^ work must be passed upon by the Red Cross and Direct Relief Commit- | r tee. The following persons have been designated at the several points in tern as a warning, but that Martia, traveling at a fast rate, came on sad ran head-on into the wagon, the tonga* of which was thrust through the cen ter of the radiator, through the hood the county to accept applications for and the driver , a ^ The two vehicles were so bound to gether by the terrific impact that tea or fifteen bystanders were unable to separate them to clear the wreckng*. A saw had to be secured to cut the wagon tongue to get the wagon and car out of the road. The wreckage is said to have been almost entirely off the pavement on Martin's left Cotton Ginning Figure*. There were 12,280 bales of cottoft ginned in Barnwell County prior t* Deoember 13th as compared with 18,565 bales ginned to the same dste a report made public this week by P. A. Baxley, special agent, of BlackviUe. The name of N. A. Hiers, Jr, son of Coroner N. A. Hiers, of the Hercu les section, was added to The Peo ple-Sentinel's mailing list this week. He is this newspaper’s youngest sub scriber. • • 4 relief work: Williston—Tate Willis. Elko—Fabian Still. Hilda—Miss Myrtle Delk. Dunbarton—Miss Louise Williams.] BlackviUe—E. H. Weissinger. Those who will accept applications at other points in the county will be named later. Mr. and Mrs* T. C. Bynum, of Fay etteville, N. C., and Mr. and‘Mrs. W. D. Antley, of Cordcva, spent Cfirist- ma? with Mrs. R. S. Dicks. merman’s heme paper, the always in teresting Saluda Standard. There is | } n 193^ according to one remarkable proposal in the pro posed bill. It would require the coun ty auditor and treasurer to refund to the county treasury that portion of their salaries paid by the county. Un der the statute the salaries cf tor s and treasurers are required to be paid, “one-third by the county and the remaining two-thirds by the State.” Eminent legal authority holds that under such agreement by statute a county may not reduce a salary by one-third and hold | that third which is taken off as the coun ty’s part, thu s requiring the State to pay the entire salary in a particular county while other counties pay their third. It all gets back, it is pointed out, to the danger of dual obligations. In the senate during the last session there was a loud protest in connec tion with charges that certain coun ties took State school aid and spread it over the entire school system, re lieving themselves of teachers' salar ies to whatever extent the State aid (was spread, and the argument was fast and furious with the contention that this was unfair to other counties. Sentiment continues to grow in South Carolina that the State may take over the entire financing if the schools are to survive, or even if econ- my is to be expected. With regard to auditors and treasurers, they per form both State and county duties. Notice! I will be at the following places far the purpose of taking tax returns far the year 1933, only personal property is to be returned this year. Ten per cent, penalty will be added for faSnre to make returns on or before ary 28, 1933. BlackviUe, January 4„ 1933. Dunbarton, January 6, 1938. EHco, January 9, 1933. Hilda, January 11, 1933. Kline, January 18, 1938. Leigh, January 18, 1983. Meyer's Mill, January 18, 1933. Robbins, January 20, 1933. Seven Pines, January 28, 1933. Williston, January 25, 1933. Respectfully yours, W. H. MANNING, Auditor, Barnwell